The Palau de Les Arts has unveiled its 2026-2027 season

Author:

by Blanca Vázquez

València (19 May 2025) — The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía will present four new opera productions — Carmen, Lohengrin, Simon Boccanegra and La clemenza di Tito — as part of its 2026–2027 Season, a reflection on power, geopolitics and social conflict through a programme spanning from the Baroque world of Riccardo Primo to the post-truth era of Nixon in China.

This season once again confirms Les Arts as a leading venue for the world’s most distinguished conductors, with the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, under the guidance of Sir Mark Elder, working alongside Mikko Franck, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Thomas Hengelbrock, Philippe Jordan, Antonello Manacorda and Vasily Petrenko.

Returning artists include Cecilia Bartoli, Lang Lang, Lise Davidsen, Lisette Oropesa, Eleonora Buratto, Ermonela Jaho, Ricarda Merberth, Ruth Iniesta, Camilla Nylund, Francesco Meli, Charles Castronovo, Davide Luciano, Andrè Schuen, Antonio Poli, George Petean and Gevorg Hakobyan. Among the company’s notable debuts are Thomas Hampson, Christopher Maltman and Hugh Cutting.

The Chairman of the Les Arts Board of Trustees, Pablo Font de Mora, and the institution’s Artistic Director, Jesús Iglesias Noriega, presented the XXI Season of Les Arts today at a press conference.

Reviewing the institution’s recent management results, Pablo Font de Mora highlighted the Foundation’s strong financial performance. He noted that Les Arts achieved budgetary balance, with economic activity reaching €30.8 million against expenditures of €29.5 million, closing the 2025 financial year with a surplus of more than €1 million, in line with the positive results of recent seasons.

He also pointed out that box office revenues exceeded €4.5 million, while venue rentals, events and complementary activities generated €3.9 million. Sponsorship and patronage contributions reached nearly €900,000, representing an increase of more than 120% and consolidating public-private collaboration.

Jesús Iglesias Noriega underlined that the 2026–2027 Season further establishes Les Arts as a major European opera production centre.

“After presenting three new productions during the season we are about to conclude, the new programme includes a record four new productions, co-produced with some of the most prestigious opera houses in Europe: the Rome Opera, Venice’s La Fenice, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Grand Théâtre de Genève,” he said.

Following a summer appearance at the Pollença Festival with Sir Mark Elder, the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana (OCV) will once again open the season outside its home venue. German conductor Anja Bihlmaier will make her debut with the OCV in a concert in Vall d’Uixó on 12 September, repeated on 13 September during Les Arts’ Open Day at Santiago Calatrava’s iconic building.

Opera Programme

Under the banner Les Arts és Òpera, the season invites audiences to reflect on power, geopolitics and social conflict.

The season opens on 2nd October with a new production of Bizet’s Carmen, marking Ted Huffman’s first work for the Main Hall. Following his Opera Award-nominated L’incoronazione di Poppea, the Aix-en-Provence Festival director presents a striking interpretation of Mérimée’s cigarette factory heroine as a symbol of individual resistance against established order. Rising mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya stars, conducted by Michele Spotti.

In October, Les Arts Florissants explores the tension between power and passion with a concert performance of Handel’s Riccardo Primo, a fascinating opera centred on Richard I of England. The ensemble revives the rarely performed work under Paul Agnew’s direction, featuring countertenor Hugh Cutting in the title role.

Seventeen years after the acclaimed Ring Cycle, Les Arts returns to Wagner with a new in-house production of Lohengrin by Damiano Michieletto, who reimagines the opera as a critique of mass fanaticism through a psychologically intense and visually striking staging. Sir Mark Elder conducts one of his signature Wagnerian works in December, with a cast including David Butt Philip, Wolfgang Koch and Ricarda Merbeth.

Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito moves beyond politics to probe the cracks within official discourse. In his second production for Les Arts, Rafael R. Villalobos relocates the opera to the cinematic world of 1940s Cinecittà, questioning whether clemency is an act of statecraft or an ethical dilemma shaped by the loneliness of power. Antonio Poli leads an outstanding Mozartian cast under Stefano Montanari in January.

Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra offers a corrosive vision of power and political fragmentation. Àlex Ollé, in his first new production for Les Arts, sees in the opera a shattered mirror of the present: fractured societies, exhausted authority and institutions unable to reconcile. Sir Mark Elder conducts one of his favourite Verdi works in March, starring George Petean alongside Eleonora Buratto, Francesco Meli, Jongmin Park and Gevorg Hakobyan.

Politics, media, performance and myth converge in John Adams’ Nixon in China, brilliantly portraying the construction of contemporary power. Valentina Carrasco’s production, conducted by Cornelius Meister, captures the clash between opposing worlds in this masterpiece of contemporary opera, to be performed between late April and early May. Renowned baritone Thomas Hampson makes his Les Arts debut in the role of Nixon.

Love, prestige and social standing become instruments of domination in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, transforming the theatre into a battleground against the laws of the Ancien Régime. Cilea’s verismo masterpiece arrives in June through the poetic vision of Vincent Boussard, following his acclaimed Giulio Cesare in Egitto. Charismatic soprano Ermonela Jaho sings her first opera at Les Arts alongside Charles Castronovo, Roberto Frontali and Clémentine Margaine, under the baton of Maurizio Benini.

Beyond Opera

Iglesias Noriega also announced the renewal of Les Arts’ collaboration with ENSEMS through Estètica i massacre by Carles Prat and Oriol Pla, to be presented at the Teatre Martín i Soler on 17 and 18 September.

Meanwhile, Les Arts és Sarsuela revives Bretón’s La verbena de la Paloma, recreated by Nuria Castejón as a tribute to Madrid’s historic Teatro Apolo. José Miguel Pérez-Sierra conducts Les Arts’ first venture into the género chico repertoire, featuring artists such as Borja Quiza, Antoni Comas and Milagros Martín.

In the symphonic programme, Les Arts and the OCV once again welcome some of the world’s leading conductors. Mikko Franck, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Thomas Hengelbrock, Philippe Jordan, Antonello Manacorda, Cornelius Meister, Vasily Petrenko and Sir Mark Elder will lead an ambitious programme featuring Strauss’ sumptuous tone poems and celebrated symphonies by Mozart, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Shostakovich and Sibelius.

The OCV and Sir Mark Elder will also continue their touring activity beyond Les Arts, with performances following Pollença at Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional, the Úbeda Festival and Seville’s Teatro de la Maestranza.

Dance, Lied and Great Voices

The 2026–2027 Season further consolidates the Friday Dance Series at Les Arts with a kaleidoscopic programme ranging from classical ballet and Spanish dance to contemporary choreography. Featured companies and artists include Antonio Najarro, Olga Pericet, Kader Attou, Marcos Morau and the Antonio Ruz Company.

Les Arts also renews its commitment to Valencian artistic excellence and contemporary creation with Estela by Alba Castillo, co-produced with Dansa València, while continuing its dedication to the great classical ballet repertoire, this season accompanying the Aalto Ballet Essen in Swan Lake with the OCV in the pit.

Five outstanding recitals are scheduled for Lied lovers, including the debuts of Camilla Nylund and Georg Zeppenfeld, essential interpreters of the German repertoire, as well as soprano Sabine Devieilhe and bel canto tenor Lawrence Brownlee, alongside the return of acclaimed baritone Andrè Schuen.

The Les Arts és Grans Veus series brings some of the world’s greatest performers to València: the extraordinary Cecilia Bartoli and piano superstar Lang Lang in a journey from the Baroque to late Romanticism; countertenor Franco Fagioli in a tribute to Farinelli; and OCV concerts accompanying Wagnerian star Lise Davidsen with Christopher Maltman in an all-Wagner programme, as well as bel canto icon Lisette Oropesa.

Finally, Les Arts és Barroc i Música Antiga reunites leading historically informed performers and ensembles, including Lea Desandre & Thomas Dunford, Franco Fagioli, Maite Beaumont and Harmonia del Parnàs & Bruno de Sá, with productions such as Il martirio di Santa Teodosia and Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno.

Les Arts will also continue its commitment to flamenco with Yerai Cortés, the Zambomba Flamenca, Rancapino Chico, Lela Soto and Chano Domínguez & Antonio Reyes, while the broader music programme will include the Latin jazz of the Michel Camilo Trio and local talent in Les Arts és Músiques Valencianes.

Daria Rybak

Part II: You cannot starve yourself and expect yourself to sing well

So, what was the turning point for me? I stumbled across this concept called intuitive eating and after following a few certified dietitians on Instagram (such as Colleen Christensen and Bonnie Roney) trying to implement the intuitive eating principles, I knew that I had to dig deeper and find the founder of this concept and...

March 2025

Daria Rybak

Jussi Bjorling, Legends

Jussi Björling: A voice of Perfection, A life of Struggle

Known as the „Swedish Caruso”, was born in Stora Tuna, Borlänge, Dalarna, Sweden, in February 1911. He came from a musically gifted family. His father, David Björling, was a trained singer and vocal coach who quickly realized that Jussi and his brothers, Olaf and Gösta, had a natural gift for singing. Under their father’s guidance,...

March 2025

Alice Lechner

Alice Lechner comes from a music-loving family. Her first encounter with the opera universe was at the tender age of six. The grandeur of the stage productions and costumes, the backstage chatter, and last, but definitely not least, the music left her in awe, beginning with Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The overall feeling that opera awakens in anyone who gets a glimpse into this part of artistic eternity, that each and every day passes the test of time, was what drew her to stay and be a part of this world. The Opera House of Brașov became her second home, and the people who worked there were her second family.

Since then, Alice has devoted her spare time to maximising her musical knowledge through instrumental studies, studying both piano and violin for a short time. In the following years, her number one passion stepped out of the limelight and graciously gave way to Law Studies.
Since 2018 she has been studying Law at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University in Iași.

Her passion for opera, even if it is no longer her top professional priority in terms of career, it has most definitely become her priority during her free time. Wanting to experience the best of both worlds and extend her musical horizons, she regularly attends opera performances throughout Romania and abroad.
With OPERA Charm Magazine, Alice aims to nurture her creative side to help it flourish and bloom and to discover, alongside the magazine’s readers, the fascinatingly complex world of opera.

Currently, she is an LL.M. in Business Law at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University in Iași.

Oana Zamfir

Oana Zamfir is a second year MA student at the “George Enescu” National University of Arts, at the Department of Musicology.

She studied violin for 12 years at the “Stefan Luchian” High School of Art in Botosani, later focusing on the theoretical aspects of music. In 2019 she completed her bachelor studies in Musicology as a student of the National Academy of Music “Gheorghe Dima” in Cluj-Napoca. Her research during 2018-2019 brought to the forefront elements of the archaic ritual within works of composers who activated during the communist period, giving her the opportunity to start a research internship at the “Carl von Ossietzky” University in Germany. In this context, she recorded conversations with members of the Sophie Drinker Institute in Bremen, and had access to documents directly from the Myriam Marbé archive.

Since 2019 she has been a teacher of Music Education and Theoretical Music Studies, making full use of interactive methods in the musical training of students and working, at the same time, with the children’s choir founded in the first year of her activity.

Her interests include pursuing a degree in interior design in 2020.

Alexandru Suciu

Alexandru Suciu inherited his passion for art growing up in a family of several generations of musicians. He began his musical studies at the “Augustin Bena” School of Music in Cluj, where he studied piano and guitar. Even though his main study direction was philological, his passion for music prevailed. He began his academical journey at the Faculty of Letters of the “Babeș-Bolyai” University, studying Comparative literature and English. He continued by studying Opera Singing at the “Gheorghe Dima” National Music Academy. He also graduated the Musical Education section, followed by Artistic Directing at the Musical Performing Arts department.

His multidisciplinary education opened the doors towards research, which is seen both through his participation in national and international conferences and symposia, such as the Salzburg Easter School PhD-forum, organized by the Salzburg Universität or the Silesian Meeting of Young Scholars, organized by the Institute of English at the University of Silesia, as well as the collaboration with Opera Charm Magazine.

During his student years, he won several prizes, including the Grand Prize at the “Paul Constantinescu” National Musical Interpretation Competition, the Romanian Composers and Musicologists’ Union Prize at the same competition, the First Prize and the Schubert Prize at the “Ada Ulubeanu” Competition.

He further developed his artistic skills by specializing in courses and masterclasses held by personalities such as Vittorio Terranova, Giuseppe Sabbatini, Marian Pop, Ines Salazar, Riccardo Zanellato, Paolo Bosisio, Valentina Farcaș and Manuel Lange in contexts such as the Internationale Sommerakademie für Operngesang Deutschlandsberg, Corso Internazionale di Canto Lirico I.M.C. Licata or the Europäische Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst Montepulciano. Besides his activity on-stage, he currently teaches Opera Singing Didactics, and Pedagogical Practice within the Department for Teacher Education and Training at the “Gheorghe Dima” National Music Academy.

Cristina Fieraru

Cristina is a 24 year-old Romanian soprano & a student at the National University of Music Bucharest, where she pursues the MA program in Vocal Performance.

She made her debut in Pamina from “Die Zauberflöte” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at only 19 years old at the Bucharest National Opera House, as a member of the Ludovic Spiess Experimental Opera Studio. Over the years she made her debut in roles such as Contessa d’Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Mimì & Musetta (La Bohème), Alice Ford (Falstaff), Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte) in her university’s opera productions.
Her passion and experience extends in the field of choral music, too.

She has been part of our dream team since the fall of 2021. For a good period of time she took care of OPERA Charm’s social media and took you on the monthly journey through the history of opera through our Legends rubric – and a few times through the Theaters around the World rubric.

Her little soul rubric – from 2021 to present – is definitely the Conductors of the Future, where, every month, she gives you the chance to meet a young star of the world of conducting and, of course, to find out what’s the most charming feature of opera in these artists’ views.

BIANCA L. NICA

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur